


I Can Take You Higher

by romanticalgirl



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 07:26:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/671834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romanticalgirl/pseuds/romanticalgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meagan knew she was dating a rock star. She just had no idea what that meant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can Take You Higher

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [February Fall Out Boy Fest](http://alpheratz.dreamwidth.org/127359.html?view=757631&posted=1#cmt757631)

  
She doesn’t really know what to expect. He told her that the Black Cards shows weren’t anything like a Fall Out Boy show, and she’s watched a few videos. She wasn’t ignorant of who he was when she started this, but this is like nothing she’s ever seen.

It’s still a half hour before they’re supposed to go on, and already the place is filled to capacity. Probably beyond. She’s staying out of the way, watching the four of them as they get themselves ready. There’s a bit of unease in the room. She’s heard all the questions from Pete over and over and over these past couple of months. It’s gotten better as the record’s come together, but she can see them in his eyes right now.

What kind of reception will they get? What if it’s different?

What if it’s the same?

She’d be worried, except she sees him look at Andy and Joe and Patrick and she sees something else in his eyes there. Bronx is his family and she’s his family, but this is something different. Something else. The kind of thing you only get from knowing people inside and out – good and bad – for years in a van, on a bus, in the news. When there’s no getting away from it because Pete’s sliced the lyrics out of himself, and Patrick’s wringing the last drops of blood from the veins.

Patrick’s in the corner, drinking tea and humming to himself and Joe’s pacing the room with a kind of frantic intensity. Andy’s drumming the air, occasionally jumping up and down and then squatting, his shirt already off and the lights bright on his tattoos.

Pete’s quiet, which she thinks is unnerving the rest of them. He’s breathing the way she knows Gabe tells him to. In and out, focusing on the movement of his chest, feeling the air and nothing else. Someone comes into the room, opening the door to the deafeningly loud chant of “F.O.B. F.O.B. F.O.B.”

“Never thought I’d hear that again.” Pete says softly.

“Never thought we’d want to,” Joe adds.

There’s a silence then, and the four of them look at each other. Pete had told her he knew the time was right. It _felt_ right. The words and the music and everything they’d all found in the meantime brought together in a combination that works. There are years of history in the room right now, and she feels like she’s an intruder even though she’s certainly not the only outside person here. All the rest of them were part of this before the hiatus. She’s not Ashlee. She’s the newcomer.

“F.O.B.” Andy nods as he says it, tapping his drumsticks against his thigh. “F.O.B.”

“F.O.B.” Joe joins in and then Patrick. They close the circle of the four of them, all of them walking closer to Pete. “F.O.B.”

Pete stands up and smiles, tugging them into a hug as he picks up the chant. It’s tight and Meagan blinks back the sharp sting of tears. She can almost see the weight come off Pete’s shoulders as he looks at Patrick then tilts his head back, screaming it up to the sky.

The door to the room opens and they head out, all of them rushing and probably nervous. Meagan and the rest of the backstage gang follow them, and she hangs back a little. The crowd goes wild when the lights go down and then they’re on stage. She’s not even sure she hears the music start over the roar of the fans, but then suddenly it’s the only thing, beating in her ears and her chest and her blood.

She presses her hand to the wall and stares, watching as Pete becomes something altogether different than the man she knows. He’s alive in a way she’s never seen, shining like he’s a supernova. They don’t talk much between songs, but when they do the crowd eats it up and Pete’s smile gets bigger and bigger. He spins and whirls in between looking at his band like they’re some sort of dream. This is what he’s tried to tell her and she never understood.

This is his music. This is his _life_.

She crosses her arms low over her stomach and leans on the wall, unable to stop smiling herself. When they launch into the new song, she’s pretty sure all of them are lit up, burning brighter than the spotlights, but it’s not until it comes to an end that she can’t look away from Pete. They hadn’t rehearsed this song together, and he’d told her why and what it meant. Even if he hadn’t, the reaction from the crowd would have done it.

Patrick sings like he’s giving everything when he says Pete’s name, and Pete dives into the crowd. The room doesn’t explode, but it feels like it. She presses her lips together tight and has to blink away the tears blurring her vision. The room is still pulsing when the music ends and the lights go out, and she’s not sure she actually hears them say goodnight, that they love Chicago, but it’s in the air.

When they come off stage, Pete’s soaked with sweat and he stops and smiles at her. It’s a different smile, a little shy for how high he has to be right now. She knows why he’s stopped. She gets it. Which is why she launches herself at him for the hug, not the other way around.  



End file.
